Just Call Me Annie

Saturday was a big day for the Cupcake List! The Major & I spent the day with some friends at the outdoor gun range at Tenoroc Shooting Range in Lakeland. Our friends had a veritable arsenal of guns to try out: a .38 Special Smith & Wesson snub-nose revolver, a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum, a 9mm Glock, a .22 Ruger, and what I will refer to as the Wild-West revolver (caliber unknown). We spent several hours shooting outdoors in perfect weather, surrounded by the romantic smell of gunsmoke and the crack of pistol shots.

I have wanted to learn to shoot for a long time now, and even though, in my green sweater & pink Life Is Good hat, I definitely did not blend in with all the camo gear on the firing line, I had a great time!

Over the last year the Major & I have visited a few gun shops to look at different types of weapons while we thought about buying. He wanted to find a gun that I felt comfortable handling (ha). This was something of a problem to overcome, as A) I had never really handled a pistol before, and B) I have very short fingers and no great hand strength, which meant I felt like a right idiot trying to pull back the slide and manipulate the assorted little levers on anything bigger than a squirt gun. This is a little embarassing in a gun shop surrounded by police riot gear, a zillion different guns and either big tough looking men or scruffy hunting types. It was definitely intimidating, which is why I had not persued this particular Cupcake item previously. Having the chance to handle our friend's weapons before we got to the range in the comfort of our own house (unloaded, obviously) really helped me feel more confident. After shooting the different guns on the range, it was obvious that if we kept looking and handling different styles we could find one with I could learn to handle comfortably.

Spending time at the range also gave us an idea of what amount of firepower to look at when we decided to buy. The .357 Magnum was just painful for me to fire. It had so much power when it was fired that I couldn't keep the shot straight, and the recoil made my hands hurt. I managed the other guns alright, but the .22 Ruger was the most fun to shoot. I could make the shot go where I wanted, and its particular cocking mechanism was different than the other manufactuers and easier for me to work. Of course, a .22 is a light-weight gun...you aren't going to stop anyone with a .22 unless you can shoot them directly in the eye.

So after we finished up at the range and had lunch, the Major & I stopped at Shoot Straight in Tampa....and they were having a BIG sale! We spent about 2 hours weaving around all kinds...bikers, hunters, grandparents, mommies, (I stood and chatted with a little baby while we waited to look at Berettas)...you name it, and they were there. It was amazing. The store is huge, and the staff was SO friendly. I (almost) didn't feel like a complete idiot while we were looking at Beretta's, Glocks, Rugers, and Sig Sauers. We decided that the Major needed one type of gun, and I needed another. So in a moment of excitement...we bought two: a .22 Walther for me and him a .40 Beretta. We pick them up on Thursday. The best part was that the girl that checked us out had a headband with a big flower on it. AND she asked why I wasn't buying the pink Walther. I think I'm really going to like being a gunslinger.